DIGBY: TOWN HAVE RAISED MY STANDARDS

Defender feels his time at Portman Road has improved him, but he wants to play more football

Paul Digby believes a lack of first-team game time has allowed him to work a lot harder on different aspects of his game than he might have otherwise done.

The defender, who is on-loan from Barnsley until the end of the season, made his first league start for the Blues in last weekend’s 0-0 draw with Middlesbrough and he thinks he can now push on with more first-team minutes, which he hopes to do as Town host MK Dons on Saturday.

“I’ve been working hard day in, day out but I think I’ve been working extra hard because I’ve not been playing,” he told Ipswich Player HD.

“TC and the gaffer have been pushing me every day in training which has raised my standards. It’s because I’m not playing every week I’ve really got to do as much in training as I can to get the best out of myself and the coaches have really helped me do that.

“I want to play more than I have done if I’m still here next season. The last three seasons for me have been difficult for me with injuries so I really want to get a good pre-season in and have a good shot at it next season.

“Training this week has been at a great intensity. We’ve trained at Portman Road today [Thursday] and everyone was really trying to win [practice game]. The season’s not over for us and we’re fighting.

“You’ve always got something to play for in football, you’ve always got the fans coming out and paying their money so we want to put on a good performance at the weekend.”